


Edge of Night

by kaydeefalls



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-03-15
Updated: 2004-03-15
Packaged: 2017-10-14 04:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/145478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaydeefalls/pseuds/kaydeefalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Through shadow, to the edge of night / Until the stars are all alight / Mist and shadow, cloud and shade / All shall fade, all shall fade."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Edge of Night

_Elijah_

It's somewhere in Mordor that he realizes it, nearly on the slope of Mount Doom, when the load of endless days and sleepless nights, contracts with italicized clauses and too many beers at the pub after shooting yesterday and the slippery empty sheets against his too hot too cold skin in bed all crashes down on top of him, sends him reeling. This movie rests on his shoulders, all of it, and his back is screaming with the weight.

Elijah stumbles over too-large prosthetic feet, and falls into Frodo, and wishes he didn't understand. The ring makes his neck ache.

*

 _Dominic_

He spends the evening memorizing the patterns in the wood grains of the pub table, tracing each line, his fingers ghosting lightly across the enamel coating. The Guinness is heavy on his tongue, thick, choking, but he swallows down pint after pint anyway. Long after the others have staggered back home, he sits, mechanically ordering refills and forcing them down until the patterns in the wood swim and dance across the table top.

Merry is all anger, and so Dominic punishes himself, one pint at a time. Too much, he thinks, meaning not the ale but everything else. Too much.

*

 _Billy_

He needs to bounce off Dominic, needs the natural and instinctive back-and-forth banter and easy camaraderie that made their scenes lilt and spit and sparkle. Separated, his lines fall flat, swallowed by the empty air. He glances over to his other half and finds it missing, stumbles, flails about for a crutch that isn't there and falls heavily, the pain of impact reflected only in the shadows of his eyes. Upright, in control, he falls without anyone else noticing, take after take after take.

Pippin ages, lines creasing the corners of his eyes and mouth, and Billy feels every year.

*

 _Sean_

He sees the pressure reflected in their eyes and limbs, in the slow, painful way they pull themselves into makeup every morning, the stress along the lines of their jaws. He sees it in the dark circles under Elijah's eyes, the four aspirin Dominic pops every morning to combat hangover, Billy's unnatural reticence. And he finds himself reflecting their anxiety, as he worries and nags and tries to hug Elijah and distract Dom and pull Billy into conversation, cover all bases, take care of everything without falling apart.

Share the load, Sam would say, but Sean can't find the words.


End file.
